iMessage only works on iPhones. I have no idea what Babel operates on aside from Android. How are they related again?

The real trick is if BBM video works on other phones.

edit:

Quote:

Today, BlackBerry also announced BBM Channels, a new social engagement platform within BBM that will allow customers to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about. BlackBerry plans to add support for BBM Channels as well as voice and video chatting for iOS and Android later this year, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play.

I guess that is a yes.

The press release says "enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy." I wonder if that means it will be encrypted?

I suspect this is too late to matter for most people. I realize that hits on websites don't tell the full story of usage, but when I looked at the OS usage stats late last week for a website I run, BlackBerry had just 0.3 percent of the traffic for the year so far. (The big model platforms: iOS with 17.6 and Android with 9.0.)

There are definitely a very small number of people for whom BBM still matters, probably mostly in corporate settings. But to think that many iPhone and Android users are going to install BBM just to accommodate the shrinking number of friends with BlackBerrys is crazy, IMO.

This would be great had Apple not already built a cross platform, secure chat client.

Now it's just snore worthy.

Since when is iMessage cross-platform?

Well, it works on my Mac, and my iPad, oh, and my iPhone!Wait, what is cross platform again?

Trying to stay vaguely on topic, I can't believe it's taken RIM this long to do this. But since no-one I know uses a BB as their personal phone any more, and I have for all practical purposes, infinite text messages included in my mobile phone plan, this is exactly as the article says, two (or more) years too late.

The way Apple did it is smart, IMO. When people send a text message, they might not even notice whether they're sending an SMS or an iMessage. It's transparent to the user unless the user is paying attention. So messages between users of Apple devices use iMessage and sending to another platform automatically drops back to SMS without any real change in capabilities. It's an excellent implementation, IMO, so much so that an iOS user doesn't have to worry about whether the other person is using an Apple device or something else.

The way Apple did it is smart, IMO. When people send a text message, they might not even notice whether they're sending an SMS or an iMessage. It's transparent to the user unless the user is paying attention. So messages between users of Apple devices use iMessage and sending to another platform automatically drops back to SMS without any real change in capabilities. It's an excellent implementation, IMO, so much so that an iOS user doesn't have to worry about whether the other person is using an Apple device or something else.

Expanding on this, if Google can get this mooted Babel service to work across all their different chat platforms and services, including SMS, then that would be a real coup. Similarly, if BBM could have had a desktop client, and iOS and Android clients, then it could have been the de facto cross platform messaging service (and of course, it would have worked best on a Blackberry handset).

Blackberry just got through an entire presentation, yet most of the press treats them like the Rodney Dangerfield of technology. The only live blog (outside of Crackberry) that I was aware of was The Verge.

Anyway, this is the big story coming out of that event. The rest was distracting crap like integration with experimental Bentleys and Alicia Keys keeping her iPhone hidden for the ten minutes she was on stage. You didn't miss much.

This would be great had Apple not already built a cross platform, secure chat client.

Now it's just snore worthy.

Since when is iMessage cross-platform?

Well, it works on my Mac, and my iPad, oh, and my iPhone!Wait, what is cross platform again?

Trying to stay vaguely on topic, I can't believe it's taken RIM this long to do this. But since no-one I know uses a BB as their personal phone any more, and I have for all practical purposes, infinite text messages included in my mobile phone plan, this is exactly as the article says, two (or more) years too late.

While BB use has plummeted in the US, it is still popular in Canada and worldwide. Not as popular as it was a year ago, but they still have some customer base to leverage, and BBM still has a strong reputation even among people who have never used it.

The question is how does BB make money off of this? Are they relying on App sales? It's going to be hard to attract new customers that haven't tried it unless it is free. Maybe a hobbled trial version and a paid full version.

I would pay for it personally because I need to have BBM and I have an older BB as my second phone. I have to have two phones because I cross the US/Canada border daily. Right now one is a Blackberry. When it comes time to upgrade that phone I'm going to be less likely to get a Blackberry if I can get BBM on an Android phone. Are they going to be able to make enough off of the app somehow to compensate for lost phone sales?

Seems like a risky plan. However, I think Blackberry is in a position where they have to take risks. I kind of hope this works out for them.

iMessage only works on iPhones. I have no idea what Babel operates on aside from Android. How are they related again?

The real trick is if BBM video works on other phones.

edit:

Quote:

Today, BlackBerry also announced BBM Channels, a new social engagement platform within BBM that will allow customers to connect with the businesses, brands, celebrities and groups they are passionate about. BlackBerry plans to add support for BBM Channels as well as voice and video chatting for iOS and Android later this year, subject to approval by the Apple App Store and Google Play.

I guess that is a yes.

The press release says "enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy." I wonder if that means it will be encrypted?

The way Apple did it is smart, IMO. When people send a text message, they might not even notice whether they're sending an SMS or an iMessage. It's transparent to the user unless the user is paying attention. So messages between users of Apple devices use iMessage and sending to another platform automatically drops back to SMS without any real change in capabilities. It's an excellent implementation, IMO, so much so that an iOS user doesn't have to worry about whether the other person is using an Apple device or something else.

You can add regular text messaging users to BBM and it is as seamless as iMessage is, and BBM could do this years ago. iMessage's only difference is that if iMessage wasn't functioning properly, it would automatically fall back to text messages and resume iMessages when the service was available again.

I had an iPhone 4S for several months, and I found iMessage to be down as often as it was up, so this was a nice feature.

The way Apple did it is smart, IMO. When people send a text message, they might not even notice whether they're sending an SMS or an iMessage. It's transparent to the user unless the user is paying attention. So messages between users of Apple devices use iMessage and sending to another platform automatically drops back to SMS without any real change in capabilities. It's an excellent implementation, IMO, so much so that an iOS user doesn't have to worry about whether the other person is using an Apple device or something else.

You can add regular text messaging users to BBM and it is as seamless as iMessage is, and BBM could do this years ago. iMessage's only difference is that if iMessage wasn't functioning properly, it would automatically fall back to text messages and resume iMessages when the service was available again.

I had an iPhone 4S for several months, and I found iMessage to be down as often as it was up, so this was a nice feature.

I didn't know that since I've never used an iDevice, it's something I'll be looking out for at Google's announcement.

Like with almost everything Blackberry has done since their hey-day, they are about 3 years too late on this. The whole mobile world would be a different landscape right now if Blackberry had taken advantage of the market lead they had in the beginning.

The way Apple did it is smart, IMO. When people send a text message, they might not even notice whether they're sending an SMS or an iMessage. It's transparent to the user unless the user is paying attention. So messages between users of Apple devices use iMessage and sending to another platform automatically drops back to SMS without any real change in capabilities. It's an excellent implementation, IMO, so much so that an iOS user doesn't have to worry about whether the other person is using an Apple device or something else.

You can add regular text messaging users to BBM and it is as seamless as iMessage is, and BBM could do this years ago. iMessage's only difference is that if iMessage wasn't functioning properly, it would automatically fall back to text messages and resume iMessages when the service was available again.

I had an iPhone 4S for several months, and I found iMessage to be down as often as it was up, so this was a nice feature.

I don't think iMessage has ever truly went down. Your mistaking it going down probably from being in an area that has little to no data, OR the OTHER person has little to no data therefore it fails on your end also.

So now there's exactly Zero reasons to buy a Blackberry handset. Android and iOS are in corps, they've got their security certs, they've got better hardware. Teenage girls who use BBM will now be able to keep in touch with their friends with a desirable iPhone/Samsung, not some old Blackberry that looks like it fell out of the 90s.

I don't think iMessage has ever truly went down. Your mistaking it going down probably from being in an area that has little to no data, OR the OTHER person has little to no data therefore it fails on your end also.

I suspect this is too late to matter for most people. I realize that hits on websites don't tell the full story of usage, but when I looked at the OS usage stats late last week for a website I run, BlackBerry had just 0.3 percent of the traffic for the year so far. (The big model platforms: iOS with 17.6 and Android with 9.0.)

There are definitely a very small number of people for whom BBM still matters, probably mostly in corporate settings. But to think that many iPhone and Android users are going to install BBM just to accommodate the shrinking number of friends with BlackBerrys is crazy, IMO.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a key feature of BBM was security of messaging. That was a major selling point in government and corporate environments, but both Android and iOS have been filling in the gaps.

Blackberry had a major market opportunity. The question is whether they can make an impact now...